by Bernard Minarik, Quakertown, NJ

My most memorable musical moment has got to be The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964. Even as a seven-year-old I realized nothing would ever be the same for me again when it came to music—or anything else, for that matter. It had to be a rare event indeed that would keep my family from tuning in to our regular Sunday evening fare, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. But there we all were—I in my flannel pajamas, bathrobe and slippers, feet dangling off the edge of the couch, watching the face of music change forever with the introduction of Paul, George, John (“Sorry girls—he’s married”) and Ringo. The excitement of this “new” music was overwhelming.

The following Friday evening (I can’t believe I had to wait that long!), my dad drove my older brother to Almart in Bethlehem, PA, where we lived, so he could purchase Meet the Beatles! I can still see them walking in the front door with the package, my brother pulling out the record from its sleeve and placing it on the record changer on my parents’ hi-fi. My entire family, two parents and five children, sat there in the living room—together that night and forever in my memory—and listened to the entire album from beginning to end. To this day I am still excited about hearing new music. But it was The Beatles who unleashed in me an appreciation and yearning for all types of music—a yearning that continues full-force today. And it was they who illustrated so effortlessly that music can be so powerful that it reaches in and grabs your heart and changes your life.